Justifying the high price of Covaxin at private hospitals, the company said that it was purely “due to fundamental business reasons”
Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of the indigenous vaccine Covaxin on Tuesday said that the supply price to the Centre, currently at Rs 150 per dose, isn’t “sustainable in the long run” and is a “non-competitive price”. Hence a higher price in private markets is required to offset part of the costs, the company said.
The statement comes after the Centre’s new vaccine policy is being put in a place under which it will procure vaccines for the States too and make the jabs free to all those over 18 years of age at government centres. Separately, the Centre had also said private hospitals cannot charge more than Rs 1,410 for the vaccine.
The Bharat Biotech statement said as directed by the Centre, less than 10% of the production of Covaxin to date has been supplied to private hospitals, while most of the remaining quantity was supplied to the Central and the State governments.
“In such a scenario the weighted average price of Covaxin for all supplies realised by Bharat Biotech is less than ₹250 per dose. Going forward, around 75% of the capacity will be supplied to the governments with only 25% going to private hospitals.” the company said.
Also Read: Can You Get “Magnetic Powers” After Taking COVID-19 Vaccines? Dr. Gilada Answers
Under the previous liberalised vaccine policy, the company had set Rs 150 for the Centre, Rs 400 as the price at which it will provide the vaccines to State governments and Rs 1,200 to the private sector. It had earlier set the rate for States at Rs 600.
Justifying the high price of Covaxin at private hospitals, the company said that it was purely “due to fundamental business reasons”
“This is purely due to fundamental business reasons, ranging from low procurement volumes, high distribution costs and retail margins,” Bharat Biotech said.
The Hyderabad-based company further said that there are live examples of such pricing policies where the Human Papilloma virus vaccine is priced for GAVI supplies at $ 4.5 per dose ( Rs 320), but is also available in the private market at Rs 3500 per dose.
“Rotavirus vaccines are supplied to the Govt of India at ₹60 per dose, but is also available in the private market at ₹1700 per dose. The prices for COVID-19 vaccines internationally have varied between $10 to $37 per dose, ( ₹730 – ₹2700/ dose),” it said.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
